Supply Chain Innovation

Colleges & Universities

Most students take pride in their universities and like to demonstrate school spirit. From t-shirts, sweatpants and hats, to baking accessories, golf equipment and headphones, students and alumni buy many products bearing their school's logo. Even as they enjoy these products, students and alumni also care that college-logoed products are manufactured in a facility that respects its workers and treats them well. FLA university affiliates are committed to ensuring that fair labor standards and human rights are respected wherever their branded merchandise is produced. FLA-affiliated universities require their licensees — any company manufacturing products bearing the school's marks or logo — to commit to the FLA Workplace Code of Conduct. Licensees are required to meet strict standards, and to develop social compliance systems that identify risks to workers and fix problems quickly when they are identified. FLA provides tools for college and university officials to monitor the performance of their licensees. Is your school involved? Find out below.

Each college and university affiliated with FLA have a representative on FLA’s University Advisory Council (UAC), which elects representatives to the FLA Board of Directors and advises on policy matters and monitoring activities.

Students use their buying power to advocate for fair labor standards for workers on campuses everywhere, and provide input to the UAC as part of its Student Committee.

About the school's commitment to protecting workers' rights and the FLA Workplace Code of Conduct: Notre Dame Licensees must participate in the Fair Labor Association (“FLA”). Licensees with annual consolidated revenues of $50 million or greater must either join the FLA as a Category A Licensee participating company or as a Category B Licensee and subject all facilities where Notre Dame licensed products are manufactured to the FLA monitoring process.

About the school's commitment to protecting workers' rights and the FLA Workplace Code of Conduct: In the spring of 1999, Penn joined the Fair Labor Association (FLA), an initiative sponsored by the United States Department of Labor and designed to promote the improvement of working conditions for these workers. To supplement the FLA Code, and ensure proper working conditions at Penn licensee facilities, Penn has formed a Task Force to draft a Code of Conduct for Penn licensees. This Task Force held its first two meetings last week.